If there were a pill you could take that would make you straight, would you take it?
Yeah, we’ve all heard this question. Tonight on The Simpsons there was a brief reference to it when Smithers appeared on-screen with a woman by his side. Bart exclaimed he thought Smithers was [gay] to which Smithers replied:
“I’m straight as long as I keep taking these shots every ten minutes”
[Smithers pulls out syringe, injects] [Smithers throws his arms in the air and screams out] “I love boobies!!!”
Remember, it’s humor people.
That’s an interesting question… If I could choose to be straight, would I?
(disclaimer: I’m talking about a change in desire and orientation… not celebacy or a life of fighting and denying attraction)
I do know that my life would have been very different had that been a choice early in my life.
I would probably still live in my small town and share the biases that are part of the “common knowledge” there. And though I might not be actively hateful to ethnic minorities, not having any experience to counteract it, I would no doubt believe a host of negative stereotypes.
I would probably not have had any significant early reason to challenge the doctrine, dogma, and narrow interpretation of Scripture with which I was raised. I would no doubt have had to wait for some event to shake my foundation (as was the case with my brother at age 50) before I really came to know what I truly believe and come to a personal (rather than communal) relationship with God.
I would probably not have left my community to pursue education, as was the case with most of my friends and neighbors.
I would probably not have made friends with interest in arts. I would no doubt have little appreciation of anything more sophisticated than television.
In short, I would not be me. So if there were a pill or shot, the choice would not be to become heterosexual. The choice would be to become someone else.
Outstanding Mr. Timothy!
Hey, it hasn’t been easy growing up black and female. But if there had been a pill to turn white or a male, I wouldn’t have taken it either.
I have learned empathy for gay people and their struggles. The conflicts I’ve experienced being a minority has made me a better writer, and advocate.
There are some people who are incredibly bland and boring because they have so little to have broadened themselves and their experience.
And they have no curiosity or desire to alter that, which boggles my mind.
I was reading about the bombardment and harassment some military cadets are feeling from their religious peers in school, who are mostly Christian.
The Christian students in turn say that to be silenced is a chink in their right to free speech.
If I hadn’t experienced similar bombardment, I perhaps couldn’t appreciate the situation described.
I’ve also had strange moments when people talk blithely about their augmentation surgery.
I live in Hollywood where the pursuit of perfection is taken to mind numbing extremes.
What is it about people that don’t have any TMI brakes?
Christians are particularly enamored of talking about what they know. My religious Jewish friends are not compelled to convert or deal with strangers as a blank canvas to be painted with Jewish doctrine.
They just say they are Jewish and LEAVE it at that.
It’s some Christians that feel the need to tell you how you’re supposed to conduct your life, or else.
But I digress and don’t want to diatribe about religious Christians, because I have experienced those Christians that welcome new ideas and are open to diverse discussions about having a life of faith in a world that also bombards with messages of material and coveting physical perfection through surgery, rather than simple healthy living and dressing as if you care about yourself.
There is a difference between becoming what you are revealed to be, as a flower blooms and has layers of petals. Rather than being stripped and reformed and forced to find what was never there.
Goodness lies in goodness itself and we’re better served by recognizing what that truly is.
I don’t think I’d be nearly as strong, or worked so hard to educate myself or learn to recognize injustice so well, if it had never been a part of my own life.
We are a garden of exotic varieties…aren’t we?
And thank goodness for that!